Serif Page Plus X3, Norton Bundle, WizCom SuperPen Professional - Free After Mail-in-Rebate Promotions At Frys (USA Specific). A Comprehensive Description On Fry’s Procedures

Intro from the 4 Free Team : Alok’s article is the result of a messages exchange between him and us, regarding Frys. We have always seen these promotions here and there, but we knew they have three important limitations :

- USA & Canada only ;

- one must give his real name and details ;

- one must actually purchase first … and receive the rebate later.

These limitation have stopped from talking about Fry’s promotions on 4 Free untill today.

But we must take into consideration that:

A. +60 % of the 4 Free readers are from USA & Canada,

B. the promoted sofwares on Frys look interesting

So we can only say thank you Alok for writing a very comprehensive guide about what is to be grabbed right now on Frys … And how to grab them .

Please note that we have not checked the procedures described in below by Alok, but we trust him 100 %

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Hi friends,

This promotion is different than what is usually seen on 4 Free, and so we would like to gather feedback from the community about levels on interest in such promotions.  We describe how these promotions work (some of you may already be aware) and also present a pros and cons comparison to usual promotions seen on 4 Free.

First think to note is that these promotions are generally US specific, generally Canada too.  This would be one of the most important considerations for many members of the 4 Free community.

How it works:  Basically after checking your eligibility, you initially make purchase using your credit card, but get a refund of the full purchase price (less the sales tax) as a check/cheque received via mail about two-three months later.  Here is an outline of the steps (more details below):

1. Download the mail-in-rebate PDF form from the store website.  You’ll find these on the product pages of the store (see below)

2. Read all terms and conditions on the forms to make sure you are eligible.  As mentioned above, one of the most important criteria is that the offer is valid in US only.  Sometimes there is an additional criterion that the customer must have a paid version of specified software titles (for example, a similar software title from the developer’s competition).  This is the case of Serif Page Plus X3 today.  More on this later below…

3. You initially purchase the software for full price

4. You fill the mail-in-rebate form and attach needed documents as per the requirements stated on the form, and sent it via postal mail within the prescribed time (usually one month after purchase but sometimes two weeks).  More on this later below…

5. In about two-to-three months, you get rebate checks back which you must cash or deposit within 90 days like for usual checks.

What it means for you:

1. You effectively get the latest version of the software, with CD/DVD and manual for free.  Note that the mail-in-rebate does not refund taxes.

2. You need to spend some time filling in the rebate forms.  Usually this takes about half and hour or so.

Here are currently valid promotions.  Most will expire within a few days!

1. Serif Page Plus X3
4 Free had featured an older version of this software title sometime back.

2. Norton Bundle (  Internet Security 2009 / Systemworks Basic 12 / Ghost 14 )

3. Drawplus X2 Graphics ($4.99 After Rebate)

4. Wizcom Superpen Professional

For those of you who are not eligible because they do not have a paid version of competetions software (like expected for Serif Page Plus X3 above), do not be disheartened.  The promotions currently featured are like that, but trust me there would be many in the future that will work out for you.   We are writing about this to at least prepare those who are interested for such future promotions.

For those of you who are not eligible because you are not in the US (I remember some comments on Windows 7 promotion previously on 4 Free), there is not much we have.  But not sure if there are other similar promotions outside the US too!  Why would they make the promotions US specific, here’s what I think:  European developers are often not as well known in the US as they would like, so they offer discounted/free versions to spread the word about their software products.  It is the same principle as for other promotions really.  Just for example, Serif has been relatively new in the US and has been offering these offers periodically.

Now we dwell into some more details!

First a pros and cons comparison of these mail-in-rebate promotions with usual 4 Free ones:

Pros:

1. You always get the latest version free for both personal and non-personal use.  No terms and conditions attached anymore than what would be for someone who is paying the full price for the software.  Even if once in a while you end up buying an older version, many developer’s offer latest version if the older version was purchased recently.  (Example:  Most security software like Kaspersky.)

2. You get boxed software with CD/DVD and manual.  Of course most people never read the manual and downloaded software works just as well, I would say better, than CD/DVD.  But it very often comes handy when some other software title will ask for a proof of ownership of some software.  They often ask for either original title page of the manual, or a photocopy of the CD.  Once in a while (rare) they may ask for original CD, or be OK with a photocopy of the title page of the manual.  Once you get into these rebates, you would be able to start becoming eligible for almost any such promotion.

3. While 4 Free has amazed us with big names in the promotions, this expands us beyond what has usually been seen on 4 Free.  Some titles that have been available for free under mail-in-rebates include the latest versions of (1) Pinnacle Studio Plus, (2) Serif Photo Studio X3, (3) Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, (4) All anti-virus and firewalls including Kaspersky, Norton, etc, (4) Nitro PDF, (5) Serif MoviePlus X3 Studio, (6) Peachtree Pro Accounting.  Also some those have been on 4 Free like Paint Shop Pro X2, etc.

4. 100% legal like other promotions on 4 Free.

Cons:

1. It is somewhat lengthy procedure to send the mail-in-rebate forms.  Filling the form is easy – they do not generally ask for much more than your name and address (and would not spam you, never did for me).  But you are required to attach a copy of your purchase receipt, almost always a cut-out of the UPC code from the product box you purchased, and sometimes a proof of prior ownership of a competitor’s product or an older version of the same product.  Then you are “required” to make photo-copies of your submission and maintain those till you get your rebate check back.

2. You need to be careful about filling the mail-in-rebate form and follow everything they have asked for.  This looks scary initially but soon you get expert in the same.  Some examples, if they say you must send your completed form before Oct 10, 2009, do not send “on” Oct 10.  They said “before”!

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Statistically, I have received my checks back without any issues.  In some 5-10% cases, I miss on sending the forms out on time, and I treat this as overall cost to me.  In some still rarer cases, something goes wrong for no fault of mine.  Hey, it’s still 90-95% discount.  Take into account the taxes you pay etc. it is still 80-85% discount.

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Now we look at some more details of the procedure.

1. Download the mail-in-rebate PDF form from the store website.  You’ll find these on the product pages of the store.
You must download the form before the promotion expires, which may happen sooner than the date published on the promotion itself.  To keep it easier, just download before you make the purchase.

Check how much time you have to fill the rebate form.  The clock starts counting on the date you make the purchase.  You need to submit a cut-out from the product box together with the rebate, so you cannot submit till you receive your shipment.  So if they provide two weeks (usually they provide a month’s time), then you have less days to fill than what you may initially think!

2. Read all terms and conditions on the forms to make sure you are eligible.

Here are some common eligibility conditions for US based promotions:  (1) Offer valid in US only, (2) proof of ownership of competitor’s products as specified on the rebate form (like printout of screen-shot of Help-About box of any of specified competitor’s software titles.

3. You initially purchase the software for full price.

This is still usually discounted price.  If they sell the software title for $100 usually while the rebates are for $60, very soon they lower the selling price to $60 to make it a “free-after-rebate” offer.

As anyone can guess, these items sometimes before out of stock quickly.

4. You fill the mail-in-rebate form and attach needed documents as per the requirements stated on the form, and sent it via postal mail within the prescribed time.

You almost always need to attach original cut-out of UPC symbol from the product box.  They show examples of what it looks like on the rebate forms.

Follow all their requirements.  If there are two mail-in-rebates, they usually require mailing them in separate envelopes.  (In some rare cases, one of the forms says you can send in the same envelope, but the other forms overrides that and says that you must mail in two separate envelopes irrespective of what the other form says!).

It is “required” to keep copies of all materials you submit.  If they ask for it and you do not have those, you could be out of luck.
Lastly, send your forms via certified mail.  You may regret saving some $3 later if you do not send via certified mail.

5. In about two-to-three months, you get rebate checks back which you must cash or deposit within 90 days like for usual checks.

On the rebate forms, they almost always specify a website where you can check the status of your mail in rebate.  Do check the status within a few days after you submit as well as a few months later if you do not receive your check.  It almost seems your checking of the status reminds them that you have not forgotten and you get your check within a few days of checking the status!
If in some case your status indicates that something went wrong, please check what went wrong.  If it is not your mistake, call them and they gracefully fix the issue.  This is where your photocopies of the submission materials come handy.

Note also that the check sometimes is not from the same company as the product you purchased!  Can be confusing if you applied for several rebates of the same amount at overlapping times.  But checking status online helps in resolving.

Given all the above, please let us know if these sort of promotions would be of interest to you.  Again, here are some example software titles that have been available under these offers over the time: (1) Pinnacle Studio Plus, (2) Serif Photo Studio X3, (3) Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, (4) All anti-virus and firewalls including Kaspersky, Norton, etc, (4) Nitro PDF, (5) Serif MoviePlus X3 Studio, (6) Peachtree Pro Accounting, (7) Paint Shop Pro X2.

Disclaimer: While the information provided in the article is correct to the best of my knowledge, it reflects my personal opinion at several places, and under no situation can I be held liable for inaccuracies discovered in the article.  I further disown any losses that end-users may result if they do not receive their mail-in-rebates back as promised by the respective companies.

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